NEW YORK—New York City officials on Jan. 29 called on two dozen companies that have collectively received billions of dollars of local pension investments to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification.

City Comptroller William Thompson and the New York City Pension Funds asked these companies to amend their policies, but have no plans to withdraw investments if the companies do not comply.

New York City’s five pension plans, which include the Employees’ Retirement System, Police Pension Fund, Fire Department Pension Fund, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System, have more than $110 billion in holdings. About $2.2 billion of that is invested in the targeted companies.

Several of the companies targeted by the comptroller said they already have policies in place that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification. The companies named by Thompson included ExxonMobil Corp. and AK Steel Corp.

“It’s never been our policy to discriminate in regard to sexual orientation or gender identity,” said AK Steel spokesman Alan McCoy. “It was simply not specifically spelled out in our equal opportunity policy statement.”